Aspergillus bombycis was first isolated from silkworm frass in Japan. It has been reportedly misidentified as A. nomius due to their macro-morphological and chemotype similarities. We sequenced the genome of the A. bombycis Type strain and found it to be comparable in size (37 Mb), as well as in numbers of predicted genes (12,266), to other sequenced Aspergilli. The aflatoxin gene cluster in this strain is similar in size and the genes are oriented the same as other B- + G-aflatoxin producing species, and this strain contains a complete but nonfunctional gene cluster for the production of cyclopiazonic acid. Our findings also showed that the A. bombycis Type strain contains a single MAT1-2 gene indicating that this species is likely heterothallic (self-infertile). This draft genome will contribute to our understanding of the genes and pathways necessary for aflatoxin synthesis as well as the evolutionary relationships of aflatoxigenic fungi.
Keywords: Aspergillus bombycis; aflatoxins; genome sequence; mating-type locus; phylogenomics.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution 2016. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.